Life’s secret sauce

The situation

I’ve lost my mojo.

In the past month or so it’s been like this. Extremely indecisive. Lost for words, all the time. Non-stop criticism of myself. Little joy. Intense feelings of awkwardness at times. Favorite time of the day being sleep.

Not great.

The teacher

I can respond in two ways:

a) Life sucks for me.

b) This moment in life is my teacher.

These moments force you to examine how you might be doing life all wrong. I am.

A metaphor

Life can be like this. You’re in uncharted space on a spacecraft. You’re making your way through the stars on a mission to get somewhere. That somewhere is the magical end point to **your life**. You must control it precisely. Dodge asteroids, comets, and whatever else is out there. This is very important.

Or, life can be like this. You’re a kid on a swing. Up and down. Slow or fast, it’s not up to you. Really, you’re at the mercy of external forces. But it’s fun right. It’s all a game.

In the first metaphor there’s quite a lot to lose. In the second, it’s virtually all upside. It’s play.

In reality, you choose which metaphor you’re operating in. I chose the first. Why? I guess I thought I was super important. Like there’s something to prove. There’s not.

Only upside

The trick is to come to a point in life where you can say, “There is only upside!” How do you get to that point?

It may sound cheesy but here is really the only logical response to life. Say this, “I love everything that happens.”

Think about the cost of saying otherwise.

You are on planet earth for a chunk of time, then viola, you’re gone. What are you supposed to do while you’re here? Hate parts of your life and constantly try to trade them for something better? Won’t you simply be despising a large fraction (probably most) of the time your on this planet?

The only logical thing to do is to love. Love everything. Smile at what the world throws at you. Smile at the grimy parts of yourself, too. Life’s too precious to judge yourself too harshly.

Here’s the catch. You can only love everything that happens once you truly and deeply love yourself. Taking control of the spaceship just means you don’t love what you are now. It’s a profound act of judgement towards yourself.

Dance at others’ feet

Here’s a metaphor that’s helped me not take myself so seriously. In every moment, dance at others’ feet. When they smile, you smile. When they laugh, you laugh. When they’re going through something challenging, feel that.

In an ego-less world we would all already be doing this. Whenever others felt something it would come natural for us to feel it. But there’s that separation. That identity. That protection. It’s all nonsense. It’s all judgement.

Once you love it all, you’re free to dance at the feet of others. Your predicament isn’t so serious.

A monk

A monk was asked, “Why are you joyful all the time?”

“I say yes to whatever happens.”

Life’s secret sauce.